Hold Me Close, Don't Let Go, Watch Me Burn
by BurnItDown0405
Summary: I'm standing in the middle of a crowded place in a gorgeous dress with tears streaking down my face, but no one pays me any mind. They are each dressed just as, if not more, extravagantly as I am. They have no time to be concerned for a stranger as they bustle about with their daily routines.


**A/N: So, I'm no Newbie to writing, but I am new to this whole fan fiction thing. If you take the time to read this, thank you very much!**

**I actually do own everything in this story so yeah :)**

* * *

I didn't mean it, it wasn't supposed to happen this way. I swear, I didn't mean it.

Not that my words stand for much to these men, as they shackle up my hands and my feet, pushing me forward and out of my cell through the damp hallways. The floors were cool against my feet from being in the shade, but they were squishy and disgusting from the mold growing in between the stones.

The soldiers march me out into the sunlight, pushing me none-too-lightly towards the platform which is suspended in the air by rotting posts that are covered in all types of garbage. Ahead of me is a noose, screaming my name and taunting me while my lips tremble and my legs lock up, causing the soldiers to shove me roughly.

Shakily I walk up the steps, hearing them creak in protest as my weight hits them. Finally I reach the top of the platform and the screams of the noose are sated by the soldiers as they place it around my neck. My lips tremble, barely able to force out the words I start speaking. "Please, p-please sir… I didn't, you h-have to und-erstand-"

"Save it, wench." The soldier on my left shoves my head into the noose and then turns, walking away. He turns, and leaves me to tremble in front of all of the people here to watch my body fall through the platform, hang from a rope, and flail around in a final attempt to escape the fate I am forced to accept.

"Elizabeth Boone," Another man in a red coat begins to read aloud my sentence. "You are hereby sentenced to death by the English Crown for the slaughter of an English nobleman. You will be hanged by the neck until you are dead. May god take mercy on your wretched soul."

He spits out the last sentence venomously, finalizing the situation. Tears stream down my dirt-streaked face as my lips tremble in an inaudible whisper.

"It wasn't my fault. I didn't mean it." 

* * *

The sun was blistering hot overhead and the tight corset wrapped around my torso was not helping me to breathe in the damp, muggy Caribbean air at all. I wanted nothing more than to be inside, where my corset could be loosened and the shade would help to prevent me from passing out of heat exhaustion.

I'm walking down stone paved streets in a shabby little town filled with crooks and criminals. My steps are slow and evenly paced, my shoulders back and my chin held high, the way I had been taught to walk as a child by my now deceased mother.

Walking into the market seemed completely normal, as if it were any other day that I had chosen to tread into this mystical land of bargaining, shouting, and selling. Children pulled on their parents cloths to capture their attention so they could beg them for a gift, men were shouting across the market about deals they were willing to make, and customers were bargaining with them to get the cheapest price they could.

I stop at a particular stand to admire some of the jewelry, ignoring the man seated behind the counter almost completely as I usually did… jewelry merchants tend to be annoying and persistent. The golden chains decorated beautifully with rubies, sapphires, and diamonds entice me. After all, I am a woman and I do enjoy pretty things.

"See something you like, lass?" I look up to the merchant who is leaning over the table, grinning at me with his mischievous green eyes glinting captivatingly. His copper brown hair falls around his face messily and I step back, slightly intimidated by his height.

"Oh, no. Thank you sir, I'm just looking." I smile nervously, looking back to the jewelry as quickly as I can without seeming rude. His stare unnerves me.

"Go ahead and pick something, anything you'd like! It's yours, free of charge." This should have set off alarms in my head, merchants never offer something for nothing, yet it doesn't.

"Oh, I couldn't possibly do that!" I place my hand over my heart and take a step back, looking back into his eyes. He smiles and shakes his head, swiping a dirty hand over the jewels with his palm facing upward, his fingers twitching ever-so slightly.

"But you must, I insist!" He persists, and so I blush and look back down to the table covered in lovely jewels. I settle for picking the smallest piece, and he shakes his head, steering me towards a piece to the far left of the table. "A woman as beautiful as your-self should wear something as beautiful as she is." He picks it up and motions for me to turn around. I do as he asks.

I feel the cold medallion rest against my chest, and when he lets go the necklace falls into place, almost perfectly. "You look astonishing my dear." He winks at me and I blush again, thanking him deeply.

"You must allow me to repay-"

"Nonsense! Just promise me one thing…" I nod. "Always wear it, so that if I am to see your beautiful face again, I can recognize you." I promise the generous merchant to do as he says and have a bit more small talk with him before making my way back to my house.

The streets are dark and empty, the air grows cooler on my skin. Something feels out of place, but I can't place my finger on it so I pay it no mind, walking up to my front door and making my way through my house to my bedroom. 

* * *

A single candle is lit in the corner of the room. It casts an eerie glow upon everything it touches, while it allows a honey suckle scent to waft out of my open window and into the night time breeze. The sky outside is dark and it's far past my bedtime, but sleep evades me. I'm not entirely sure why, I'm extremely tired and would have usually been fast asleep by now.

I sleep with my window shutters open even though it's freezing cold outside, and I am able to hear creaking of signs on some of the houses and shops near-by. Occasionally, I can hear the clanking of soldier's armor and it comforts me, knowing that the town is well protected at night.

My mind is reeling and my fingers twirl the medallion between themselves swiftly. The only thing I can focus on at the moment is the generous green eyed merchant. Why had he chosen me? Out of all of the astonishing women in the market, he had chosen me.

Another metallic clink occurs outside my window, though it sounds much closer than the last few. I brush it off. 'Just the soldiers…' my thoughts comfort me. I continue thinking about the merchant, while my eyes study the golden medallion with countless emeralds embedded into it with no particular shape on the surface. The chain is thin and very much breakable, but I do no strenuous work to threaten it so I shouldn't have to worry.

Suddenly I feel as though I am being watched, and before I can turn around a cloth filled hand covers my mouth, and no longer are my thoughts comforting. 

* * *

The first thing I hear are seagulls, their squawking is extremely frustrating and irritates my throbbing skull. I open my eyes and allow them a few seconds to adjust to the light before I start looking around. I become aware of the smooth rocking beneath me and come to realize that I'm on a boat.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, my dear!" A very familiar voice speaks, sounding extremely snide.

I look over at the green eyed merchant and my eyes widen in horror. "Where have you taken me?" My throat is extremely hoarse and sore… The ship I am on is large and quite nice, if not for the dozen pirates staring at me from their different places on the boat.

"My ship, love. Just outside of your pretty little town." His eyes are menacing and the grin he has on is sinister, evil even.

"For what purpose!?" I exclaim angrily, glaring at him. My voice breaks as I speak, but I am not sure if that is due to fear or the pain I feel.

"My payment of course dear… you didn't really believe I would just _give away _such a fine piece of jewelry, did you?" His grin fades away into a stern look, almost as if he is scolding me for being naïve.

"But you-"

"I lied, love. That necklace you're wearing? It's cursed. I can make you do any one thing that I would like… so I'm going to have you do a little bit of my dirty work." He shoots me another grin and his shadow looms over me, causing me to cram myself into the corner of the ship. 

* * *

I'm standing in the middle of a crowded place in a gorgeous dress with tears streaking down my face, but no one pays me any mind. They are each dressed just as, if not more, extravagantly as I am. They have no time to be concerned for a stranger as they bustle about with their daily routines.

In my hand under the sleeve of this beautiful gown is a pistol, my fingers are curled around the barrel forcefully and I cannot make them unclench to drop it no matter how much I plead for them to do so.

"You will shoot that man and then you will wait here. You will kill him." The green eyed merchant, who turned out to be a thieving pirate, speaks. More tears roll down my cheeks slowly, each one piercing my soul slowly and surely.

"Please, sir… I can't, please! Don't make me!" I feel as though I'm screaming but in reality, my voice is nothing more than a whisper, drowned out by the shouting of the crowds. My body is trembling violently and he rolls his eyes at me, slapping my shoulder albeit roughly.

"You can, and you will." With those words my body moves of its own accord, facing the man whom I am to kill. "Now… be a good little pet, and shoot him." With that he walks away.

As he told me to do, I waited for him to be far out of my sight. My arm raises slowly and I begin to completely sob, my pointer finger curling around the trigger.

The eyes of a small child lock onto my own, and he gasps and points, causing his father to look at me. Tears continue to cascade down my cheeks like tiny rivers, and my entire body is trembling painfully as the child of the man I am about to shoot draws his father's attention to me.

I squeeze the trigger, and a deafening shot is fired, piercing through the heart of the man. The scream that his son lets out while he bends down over his now dead father will stay with me for the rest of my life. His scream shattered the remnants of my soul completely.

People scream and run, ducking and covering. I wish to run too, no one would ever know it was me… but I cannot. I am rooted to the ground with these tears in my eyes while I watch the child sob hysterically over his father.

Soon, I am arrested and forced into a prison cell. 

* * *

I didn't mean to. It wasn't my fault.

I'm screaming these words in my head as I tremble and shake, but the man in the red coat pays me no mind. Tears cascade down my face like an endless stream, a stream tainted black with dirt, tainted black to match the soul of the man who forced me into this situation.

With one last glance at my trembling form the man in the red coat raises his arm, giving the signal.

My life flashes before my eyes quickly, painfully, causing more tears to flow freely down my cheeks.

The world falls around me slowly, crashing down and shattering into a million pieces of remorse, regret, and hatred.

I didn't mean to. It was not my fault.

It's too late. My body hangs cold and lifeless from that noose which is now fully sated, it has taken my life for a crime that I committed, but had no say in. The tightness of the rope breaks the chain of the medallion and it flutters to the ground as my soul travels farther and farther away, glinting green and gold until it connects with the floor raising up a cloud of dust.

The lifeless corpse of what was once me sways with the sweet Caribbean breeze, and the square empties slowly. In the back, I see the pirate. His glance is slightly regretful, but a cold mask is soon replaced as he turns to face the backs of the retreating crowd.

The movement is sudden and barely noticeable, but I am watching this pirate carefully. His hand moves up to his chest and he gasps, as though something has gone amiss… His eyes glaze over with pain and his lips tremble while his finger-tips dig into the fabric of his shirt desperately.

The pirate collapses on to the ground, his eyes wide open with fear and his chest no longer moving. I turn my eyes away from his body to where mine hangs, and notice that the cursed medallion is no longer on the ground under me.

_ What you wish onto another, shall be forced upon you._ The words are a soft whisper, and after them I hear no more.

* * *

**A/N: Any constructive criticism is appreciated!**


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